After Sacrifice
by C4L3N
Summary: Four months after the Crucible detonation, Tali and Shepard find themselves living on Rannoch together. However, nothing is ever simple, a seriese of events unfold revealing a darkness still brewing.
1. New Life

Due to unforseen cercumstances I am going to be needing to include a content warning with this fic.

PARENTAL DISCRESSION IS ADVISED

Mature Conent may or may not be involved, the following themes are:

Sexual Themes (Low detail)

Violence (No gore)

Strong language

Alcohol Reference

Suggestive Themes

Adult Situations

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... IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 14 PLEASE ASK YOUR PARENTS BEFORE VIEWING THIS CONTENT

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This story is using a warped version of the indoctrination theory. However everything happened, but ended in a different way.

When Shepard was hit by the reaper blast while running towards the conduit he was knocked unconcious but his mind percieved otherwise. His mind had been taken hold of by the reapers and he was givin power without realising it. After being givin the choice to Control, Fuse, or Destroy Shephard chooses to destroy them, realizing that conroling them only prolonged the cycle and he felt it was wrong for him to make the choice to fuse everybody into synthetics.

After beginning to shoot the conduit on the platform the starchild began protesting and then the familiar booming voice inssued.

"YOU ARE MERELY PROLONGING YOUR SPECIES EXTINCTION, RELEASING CONTROL"

Shepard wakes up on the battlefield where he was hit and the child from his dreams walks up to him.

"Am I dead?"

The child replies, "No, however you had managed to break indoctrination, by choosing to destroy all synthetic life you managed to shut down the collective conciousness of the reapers."

"Why am I still here, near the conduit?"

"When you fell unconcious you were pulled into the center of the reaper's collective conciousness. In effect, you were within the citidel. However you were more of an anomoly in the system. When Harbinger detected your presence he saw it an advantage to use you in your weakened mental state. In other words, you've been unconscious this entire time and never moved."

"But what of the citidel or the Mass Relays?"

"The citidel was destroyed as Harbinger released a blast along its hull during death. However the signal was released by the crucible before the stations destruction. The Mass Relays are not gone, they are merely offline."

(I'm going to leave it here and you fill in the blanks, I'm only clarifying on this important piece of the story)

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Tali looked around in amazement as the Geth and Quarians worked together to rebuild their homeworld. The Geth had done a kindness to the Quarians to repay them for their mercy even after a near genocide, they had managed to collect all of the ancestral data before it was destroyed. The Geth had rebuilt much of the ancestral grounds for which the Quarians had held in highest regard and proceeded remaking the VI's that had been destroyed over 3 centuries ago.

Shepard couldn't help but notice Tali was claiming land again as she stood near the edge of the same cliff they had defeated the reaper on. It was nearly 4 months ago when they had reclaimed Rannoch and Tali had said that she loved him. He remembered every moment of it, he had thought to himself that if the fleet hadn't fired when it did, he would not have been able to tell her he loved her too.

He walked up behind her and put his arm around her side, she stopped and immediately rested her head on his shoulder knowing she would never leave his side again, commander or not. He could sense a relaxation coming over her body as she grew more comfortable just standing there, watching as her world was slowely rebuilt and her people returned to their former life-style.

"Looks like we still have to go find a spot for that house," he said lightly as to not disrupt the moment.

"Keelah Shepard, that can wait. After all we have here and now don't we?" She said still trying to believe that she was expierancing this, even after the literal hell on Earth they had witnessed.

Two long hours went by as they sat with eachother reminiscing on the friends they had made over their journeys and the friends they had lost along the way. They chose to erect the equivalent of a Quarian ancestral shrine to those who played a vital role in the salvation of the universe. With help from the Geth they built the structure and the VI pedestals, with EDI's help they were able to make the VI's so that everyone who came here knew, Shephard was not alone in his fight, without them, failure was sure to ensue.

"Commander, good to see everything is going well planetside," Joker's voice crackled over the communicator.

"Joker, good to hear a friend's voice. By the way it's not commander anymore, I had the Alliance take me off of the duty rosters and place me on permanent leave," Shepard was almost suprised to hear Joker's voice, but Joker had become like a little brother to him over the course of their travels.

"Is everything ok? You look like your going to die if you don't start laughing," Tali said with a smirk.

"I'm just happy to hear his wise-ass voice again, after all it's not a real ending to a war without a reunion of of the Normandy clan," He had become accustomed to refering to the crew of the normandy as a clan rather than a crew.

After all they were all family, even Legion was as a brother to them all, without it's sacrifice the Geth would have wiped the Quarian people off the face of the universe or vice versa. He was also adopting the Quarians belief system, slowely he was becoming more Quarian than Human, even if his physiology showed otherwise.

Tali and Shepard made the trek back to the landing pad to meet up with Joker and EDI. As they walked they payed their respects to the fallen warriors and civilians who had died trying to retake or have one last glance of their homeworld. As they began walking up the metal staircase, Joker came hobbling out of the airlock with EDI firmly wrapped around his waist.

"Hey Com... Shepard, heheh sorry I guess I gotta get used to calling you that."

"Joker! EDI! How have you two been?" Shephard was overjoyed to see them, he had always appreciated seeing familiar faces, even Wrex was a sight for sore eyes back on Earth.

"Joker! How have you and your new lover been holding out," Tali asked still curious as to how a cynthetic and an organic could procreate or even 'be together'.

"We have had many 'rough' nights as Jeff calls it. He insists on sleeping with one hand over my platform's 'breasts' even though he is aware the last time he rolled over and fractured his ring finger on his left hand." EDI hesitated as she sifted through all of her databanks regarding Jokers behavior, still not understanding the concept of 'intimacy'.

"Safe for you to say, I actually enjoyed it. Not the fractured finger but all the other stuff, you know what I mean I've never been good at this mushy stuff." Joker was a little embarressed to reply but he couldn't help himself.

Shepard and Tali walked with hands around eachother into the Normandy. As they entered they noticed some changes to the interior. The Normandy had been retrofitted to support a single crewmember operating since EDI was capapble of handling all of the other systems. Shepard recognised some of the people on the Normandy as refugees from the Citidel.

"Hey guys, listen up!" Joker called out to the crew members in the mess hall.

"If you haven't met him you will now, Shepard this is the new crew of the Normandy!"

The small croud of people clapped and cheered as Shephard stood by joker, Tali was still locked to his side.

"Welcome to the Normandy! I used to be the commander here, but I chose to stay here with my little Tali to help her people and make sure Rannoch sees the peace we've waited so long for."

Tali kicked Shepard playfully after the 'my little Tali' remark but remained silent, she was to busy enjoying the company of her lover and old friends.

After greating everyone Joker pulled Shephard into the bridge. Tali knew Shepard would want to speak with Joker in private so she went down to engineering to listen to the all too familiar sounds of the Normandy, she noticed that this ship was not the same Normandy she once called home.

"So I see some modifications were made to the ship?" Shepard was leaning on the desk looking at the models he had collected over the years.

"Actually no," Joker said painfully

"This is a replacement vessel, the Alliance wished to keep the original Normandy due to it's still, 'classified', status. However, Admiral Hacked saw fit to commission a civilian class Normandy. It has few weapons and is designed with search and rescue in mind." EDI popped in over the coms.

"So thats why all those people were on board then," Shepard said curiously awaiting a response, he had already guessed there was more to it.

"Haha, actually believe it or not. They're the new crew, we've been running S&R missions for two months now, I think we've reunited more families with their lost ones than not. It feels kinda good to help out you know?" Joker was fidgeting around trying to get comfortable.

"Well it's good to see youve been doing something that makes you happy."

4 hours go by and the couple say their goodbyes. Joker managed to get one last message through to him before departing however, a message marked with a V.

'What's that old Earth saying? May your glass be ever full, may the roof over your head be always strong and may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead. Drinks are on me. V'

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Throughout this story please let me know if you see something out of place. I'm rereading it from time to time to maintain the storyline but sometimes I miss things. Also if you want more information added, PM me and I'll see what I can do.


	2. Vakarian

Garrus had been going through a rough patch ever since Palaven was attacked. He was sure he would get some kind of word from his father. But nothing but static came from the planet, Garrus desided it would be best to seek out his old mentor one last time. This time drinks were on him.

Garrus made his way to Joker hoping to get a message to Shephard. He felt it was his lst time to truly be able to spend time with the last true friend he had left in the universe.

"Hey Garrus what's up?" Joker seemed startled at the Turians quick movement into the cockpit.

"I have a message for Shephard that needs delivering, think you'd be willing to do a friend one last favor?"

"Sure, no prob. Why can't you take it to him yourself?" Joker was puzzled why Garrus would ask hime to do something he could do easily himself. It was like he wasn't speaking to the Garrus he knew.

"I, have some things to do on Palaven, I'll be on Illium when I'm finished up here," Garrus was hurt, it shown through his voice clearly.

Joker nodded understanding what was going through the Turians mind. He was no psychic but he knew that with this war came loss. Chances were Garrus hadn't heard from any of his relatives and it was killing him not knowing what became of them.

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Garrus took a shuttle off of the Normandy and made way for Cipritine, knowing he would find little more than destruction. As he entered the atmosphere his stomach dropped, Cipritine had been decimated moreso than the rest of the planets cities. His father had to be here somewhere, that old bastard survived a Krogan death squad he couldn't be dead.

As Garrus made way to the population center he had many Turian soldiers salute him, he paid no attention to them he was on a personal mission. As soon as he had come within sight of the Cipritine Hospital he began running, eagerly waiting to find out if his father was alive.

The hospital was packed, thousands of injured or dead were scattered around the wings. He found the nearest terminal and searched the database for entries regarding his father.

"DAMN IT! I was sure he was here," He had both hands on the desk firmly gripping the edge so he didn't throw the concole across the room.

"Can I help you?" a Turian nurse came out from around the corner carefully noticing the anger eminating from Garrus.

"I came here looking for my father, Kelles Vakarian," Garrus was pained by what he saw on the console.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Garrus. He loved you very much. He asked me to give this to you," The nurse handed Garrus a disk entitled 'To my son'.

"Thank you," Garrus shook the nurses hand and left. He knew whatever he found on this disk would haunt him. But he wanted to see his father one last time before accepting he was dead.

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This was a very short chapter but I was only trying to explain what happened to Garrus to bring about the message he had sent to Shepard.


	3. Love and Near Loss

One week passes since Shepard recieved the message from Joker. Over that period of time Tali had began building up some of the gardens that Shala'Raan had began to graph out. They were working to create an enclosed park with special solar shielding that allowed only enough energy through to allow the plants to grow. Shepard had helped by building the planters and other items with imported wood from Earth. It gave the garden an exotic look to have materials from other planets used.

As the Geth finished putting up the enclosure Tali and Raan looked at what they had accomplished. Bringing the beauty of Rannoch back one garden at a time, a tear of happiness and pride came down both Raan and Talis faces.

Shepard came up slowely behind Tali and put his hand on her shoulder, she put her hand on his and removed her mask to kiss him. Raan tensed when she saw Tali remove her mask but said nothing, she knew that Tali's body had become accustomed to Shepard. Raal slowely backed out of the garden to allow them to have some privacy.

"Keelah, it turned out amazing," Tali said as she walked over to the flowers, reds and yellows dotted the flower garden giving off a sweet aroma.

"Yes it did, I'd say that the plants copied you perfectly. From your outer beauty to your inner beauty," Shepards face turned a deep shade of red as soon as he noticed Tali froze in place after that comment.

Tali was on the brink of busting out into a laughing fit, such a cheesy yet sweet line of him to say. "Well Shepard, do tell. When did you turn into a Krogan romantic?"

Her mask was still off and Shepard could see the cute little smirk she had on her face, she was about as red as he was at that point from trying not to laugh.

"Would it suprise you if I said Raan was giving me pointers?"

Tali couldnt take it, that was the final straw. She busted out laughing, Shepard joined in realizing the irony of the situation.

"I can't believe you actually listened to Raan," Tali was still recovering from the laughing fit.

"Haha yeah, I'm still learning how to live with your people. As they say on Earth, When in Rome, do as the Romans do," He put his arm around Tali still trying to regain his composure, they sat down on the stone path, his arm around her shoulders and her head on his shoulder.

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One hour passes and they start talking to the Admiralty board to commission a ship.

"Shepard, Commander we may have a way to help you," a Geth Prime chimed in as the meating was finishing.

"Ok I'm up for an idea," Shepard was happy to here the Geth were helping with more than planetary repopulation.

"Our people wished to show you gratitude for your mercy, a ship is waiting for you on the landing pad half a click west of here. I will lead you to it if you wish,"

"Absolutely!" Tali exclaimed rather excited to have a ship all to herself and Shepard.

"We appreciate it Prime," Shepard and Tali followed the Prime to the ship.

The ship was small but seemed to be a mix of Geth and Turian design, The exterior used Geth technology while the interior was designed to be comfortable to organics. Instead of windows special micro cameras were placed on the hull and HUDS were installed to mimic windows. This ship seemed as if it was also equipped for long term living.

Tali was ecstatic to be able to witness the first ship of its kind, and then she noticed something that haunted her. The power source of the ship, was a piece of the reaper core they had killed on the cliff, Shepard became concerned when he noticed Tali shaking uncontrollably.

"Whats wrong Tali?" He rushed over to her and grabbed her holding her tightly.

"I nearly lost you to that, bosh'tet. Never again Shepard, I wont lose you again," She was in tears, Shepard pulled her over to a chair and sat with her for nearly an hour comforting her.

"Ready to go?" He asked softly, not sure if she was asleep or awake.

No response, she was out cold.

"Prime will you set autopilot for Illium," Shepard didn't want to get up, instead he found that the table and chairs converted to a bed. So he lay down next to Tali and slept next to her the whole ride.


	4. Last words

Illium was slowely recovering from it's run in with the reapers. Towers were gone where they once stood tall and much of the planets beauty had burned. Workers worked round the clock to restore the cities and the natural surroundings.

While the planet was in disarray buisiness went about as usual for the sales people trying to etch out a living. Indentured servants were becoming quite common around these parts where they were a rare commodity before. Shopkeepers sold their wares at high costs to accomidate the situation, rent on apartments had gone to astronomical amounts to support the damaged economy.

Tali woke up as they docked, her cheeks and eyes still somewhat tender from crying. She looked over at Shepard who had fallen asleep next to her with his arm firmly wrapped around her waist. She cuddled up to him hoping to enjoy this moment a little longer. The pain she had felt before slowely drifted away as she relaxed, knowing he was not leaving her.

Shepard woke up a short while later, he slowely began to get up and stretch trying not to wake Tali up. Little did he know she had been laying there awake, she watched as he moved over to the bathroom in the back of the ship. As soon as she heard the familiar beat of the decontamination unit (a.k.a. shower.) she jumped at the chance to join him.

Tali slowely found her way into the bathroom so that Shepard wouldnt notice and began disrobing. After pumping a couple antibiotic injections in case the water had anything in it she began sliding the door open.

Shepard felt a familiar three fingered hand come to his side, he turned around and Tali imediately went in for the kiss.

"How did you sleep," He asked her quietly, he let the water run down his back while he held her.

"Good my love, I'm sorry for the scene I caused back home," She buried her face into his chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart.

"Don't appologise Tali, I understand what you were going through. Just remember," He picked her face up.

"I love you," They kissed for what felt like hours.

"I love you too Shephard," She returned the favor twice back.

As they exited the shower Tali shook, she wasn't used to hot water cleaning. The suit that she wore did all the cleaning for her eliminating the need for such method of cleaning. She liked it though, the water felt suprizingly good on her skin, she desided she would take showers more often as a luxery.

Shepard noticed her shivering and went to her with a towel and a blanket not sure which she needed more at the moment.

"Are you ok?" He asked concerned she may get sick.

"I'm fine, I'm just not used to 'showers'. I don't feel sick so I know it's just my body adjusting to the temperature. Thank you though, it means a lot to me that you'd ask," she bent over and kissed him as she began crawling back into her suit.

Shephard couldnt help but notice how clearly her figure shown through the skin tight suit. The only reason people didn't look twice was because of the cerimonial garbs and armor they wore, giving them a slightly different figure than they really had.

As she reattached her helmet to her suit she bent over and kissed shepard one last time and then attached her visor. She looked down and noticed her omnitool had a message waiting on it. She opened it up and a smile formed on her lips. Raan had come through and procured a gift Tali had requested specially for Shepard.

"Anything important?" Shephard asked noticing her stance was relaxed which meant happy or content.

"No, just junk mail. After all, we are on Illium are we not," Tali said trying to hide the excite in her voice.

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As the couple make their way to the bar, a group of Blood Pack enter. Several shots ring out and they begin to scatter, running off in whatever directions they could run.

"Damned Vorcha," Tali sighed.

As they entered the bar they noticed it was packed, all but one booth was filled with people drowning their sorrows.

"Shepard, glad you could make it," Garrus was obviously tipsy.

"You ok Garrus?" Shepard was concerned for his health, he knew the Turian had guts of steel but to see him nearly drunk, was unsettling.

"I'm fine, just had a few before you... came," Garrus tried to stand up but fell back into his seat.

"Tali grab his other arm," She nodded as they carried him to the ship.

A few hours pass and Garrus wakes up, a throbbing sensation in the back of his skull. He was never used to drinking himself this far into the bottle, but he needed something to take the edge off.

"Garrus, you feeling any better?" Shepard asked concerned.

"I feel better than I did other than this damned headache,"

"Here try this," Tali handed him some tablets from her belt.

Garrus nodded and took them knowing that usually Quarian medicine worked for Turians unless it was genespecific meds.

"Shephard, I'm sorry you had to find me like that. I was having a moment of weakness," Garrus looked sad and shamed.

"Don't worry about it Garrus, what are friends for anyway? So what brought you here?" Shepard was rubbing a cold towel to Garrus forhead.

"This," Garrus held out the disk he had aquired through the nurse back on Palaven.

Tali took the disk and noticed the writing on it. She shook her head knowing what the disk was immediately. She ran the disk through her omnitool scanning for data. One video file was on the disk along with a dossier on Garrus' family. She played the video.

"Garrus, son, if you are watching this, my life has past," Garrus father paced around a large room with computer screens showing different bits of data.

"I want you to know I loved you, I'm proud of you for finding and choosing the right side," He walked up and put his hands on the desk in front facing the recorder.

"The reaper threat was real, I believed you and so did the hierarchy,"

"The disk you have has a dossier on the Vakarian family. What you see may shock you, but then again, I'm not forcing you to read them," He relaxed andwalked to towards the recorder.

"Keep fighting on the right side son, for the good of the universe," His father was getting ready to end the vid.

"Oh and son, try not to get shot... Again, just because women like scars doesn't mean you need to go and screw your whole face up," He went up to the recorder and shut it off.

Garrus started laughing lightly, his father always was a hard bastard but he got the message.

"You gonna be ok?" Shepard looked concerned.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."


	5. Old grudges and new experiances

As Shephard Tali and Garrus Exited the ship, a group of mercs came running in from the direction of the shuttle service rifles in hand. Garrus didn't second glance them before knowing their reason for being here.

"Shepard, you've been a brother to me. Care to show these guys some brotherly love?" He joked tensing up his muscles.

"Im sure theyll be getting more thn that, after all, your sister is here too and we all know how women can be under pressure," All three of them laughed under their breaths.

As soon as they came within accurate firing distance they unleashed all hell into the walkway. Consoles exploded all around them and civilians scattered for their lives. As the gunfire got more intense Shepard signaled to Garrus to make a run to the second level of the bar while he drew off the fire. Tali snuck in a little closer to make use of her tech mines.

She began placing them in the path of the mercs just under the consoles quickly moving out of range before they armed. Shepard began firing on them with his rifle managing to hit a few of the mercs straight in the head. As garrus got into position a voice came from behind him, a strangely familiar voice.

"You really thought you had me back on the citidel didn't you,"

Garrus sighed, the name and the face of the voice came rushing into his head. "Sidonis"

"It's funny, really. You bought my look alike quite well," Sidonis paced with his pistol loosely hanging from a finger.

"I'll admit it, I'm impressed. Evading me as long as you have, but I think you failed to catch your latest mistake,"

"And what might that be, Garrus?" Sidonis said smugly.

"You already know me, sniping is hard at close range, but a shotgun, well. Let's just say thats a completely different story."

Sidonis froze as he noticed an explosion and then an absense of gunfire. A tap on his shoulder and the familiar sound of a round chambering then caught his attention. He turned to see a Quarian, he was shocked with disbelief.

"Wh, Who the hell are you?" He was pannicking now realising just how far down shit creek he had gone without a paddle.

"My name is Tali'Zorah vas Normandy and I think you owe our brother an appology," Tali said proudly, she was holding the shotgun one handed to Sidonis' chest.

Sidonis slowely turned around and tried to get the words out before Garrus interupted him with a stomp to the shin bringing him to his knees. He screamed in pain as he felt his leg snap under the weight of Garrus' foot.

"Now you can't run away," Garrus said as he raised his pistol.

"No, please you can't kill me! I, I have family!"

"I know, they were on the citidel when it was taken by the reapers. I find it interesting though, it seems you were on record being aboard the citidel just moments before it was taken."

"I swear I tried to save them!"

"I find that hard to believe Sidonis, It seems the ship you came in on bears the same IFF as the one from the citidel and the record show multiple organics outside the shuttle as it departed."

"How the hell did you get that information, you didn't even know I was here!"

"I had my theories, why else would blue suns be here hunting me down?"

Sidonis knew he was in a corner he couldnt get out of. He immediately reached for his pistol and got it halfway up before Garrus blew a hole through his skull.

"Damn shame it wasn't him on the citidel, but it felt, good to do that twice,"Garrus said relieved.

"Glad thats over my arm was going numb," Tali said as she dropped the shotgun into its latch.

"Any casualties?" Shepard yelled out into the streets.

A number of people yelled back that they were fine, some were injured but mostly cuts and grazes.

As the three walked down towards the shuttles they looked at the carnage that had just happened. Tali was sad that so many had tossed away their lives for one selfish Turian, she kept replaying Sidonis' last second in her mind, enjoying the moment. She knew that with him gone there would be one less bosh'tet in the Galaxy.

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Shepard had asked if Garrus wanted to come back to Rannoch with them but he refused.

"I think I may take up my old alias 'Archangel', after all, with all this chaos someone has to be willing to help people who need help."

"Well I hope you find success in every mission, Come visit sometime, I'll make sure you have a place to stay if ever you do,"

"Thank you, Shepard. I promise I'll be in your system before the end of the next cycle,"

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Tali looked out into the stars as they sat in the ships cockpit. She was lost in thought, how long before another war. She was afraid of the thought but she couldn't shake it. Shepard looked over at her noticing how tense she was. He had been running over the features of the ship and found one he thought shed enjoy.

He typed a command into his omnitool and the sanitation system kicked on for a couple seconds sterilizing the entire environment. He pulled her away from the console and took her helmet off.

"Shepard what are you doing?" She said startled.

"Here I thought you might like these, after all, I thought it would be fitting for our anniversary."

"Shepard, our anniversary isn't for another few months."

"The anniversary of the day we first met," He was laughing a little and she chuckled a little at the thought.

"These, are beautiful. Whered you get them?"

"I found a vendor that sold clothes from Earth, I thought youd like them," he said with a smile.

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As they arrived back on Rannoch Tali exited the ship and Raans jaw dropped. She had never seen such clothes before.

Tali had on blue jeans, a dark purple shirt and a hoody and tennis shoes that fit her perfectly. She looked almost human except for her hands. She was wearing all of this over her suit though she had removed her traditional cloths and armor to wear it.

"Tali! What are you wearing?" Raan was extremely confused and wasnt doing a good job of hiding it.

"Shepard had bought these for me while we were on Illium, he wanted to share a small piece of his culture with me. I actually like them, the feel on my skin is soft and comfortable."

"Child, you took your suit off to try these on? That was very dangerous of you," Raan was woried now.

"It's fine, the ship the Geth made for us has a sterilizing field built into it, Shepard engaged it before I did anything."

Raan loosened up realising Shepard was being careful and proceeded to hug Tali.

"Well now for the other reason I came here," She pulled a box out of her shuttle.

"Tali requested this for you, we all have seen you to be one of us, so we made this for you,"

Shepard walked into the ship after opening the box. As he exited the ship he got gasps from some of the Quarians working on the pad.

The suit he was givin was a modified Environment suit, It had traditional cloth on it in dark blue with an ornate pattern on it and a large hood made to cover the air filtration systems.

"Oh, my, god," Tali said as she looked at shepard.

Shepard walked down the ramp, slowely getting used to the way the visor worked. He knew some of the Quarian's hand written language but not all of it so the symbols within the visor were very new to him. He was also dealing with an annoying warning alarm for viral infections as the suit didn't fully recognise his genetic profile.

"Oh my, It would appear I need to make some updates to the software in the suit so Shepards genetic profile is accepted."

Raan ran some scans on Shepard using her omnitool and uploaded the data to the suit. Shepard no longer heard the warnings and relaxed.

"Would you like me to update it to your language?" Raan asked, curiously observing how he reacted in the suit.

"No, I want to learn this new language. I want to be with Tali, and for me to truelly be with her is to understand her people."

Tali was blushing at how much Shepard was trying to be real family. She ran over and hugged him tightly. He wasn't used to the suits ability to simulate touch and jumped as she hugged him. She stepped back looking puzzled and realized just then what had happened. She began laughing and then desided it'd be best to stick with some simple things first.

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Rereading through the chapter and made some very slight corrections to grammar and spelling. Raal to Raan and Shephard to Shepard.


	6. The Nearly Ultimate Sacrifice

It had been two weeks since the couple returned to Rannoch. Shepard was getting used to his new suit rather quickly, he learned how to repair it when there were tears and he was beginning to understand most of the Quarian writtin language. A crazy idea entered his mind a week ago regarding genetic manipulation, Mordin had suggested it some time ago. He was thinking about Tali, they had had several conversations about their lives together, their future as a family.

"I have something I have to do back on Sur'Kesh. I have a speach to give for Mordin's sacrifice and bravery," Shepard said walking up and hugging Tali.

"I'm not going?" Tali asked slightly worried, she had become quite obsessive with Shepards safety and he was well aware, however he had a way to distract her long enough.

"No, I'm afraid we need you here Tali," Raan said lightly as she walked into the room.

"Oh, Raan. I did not hear you come in," Tali was somewhat confused at this point, and she cocked her head to the side ever so slightly trying to understand.

"I am sorry to come in uninvited, but I wanted to ask you personally if youd like to work on the new power stations for the new environment control station we have been constructing,"Raan knew Tali couldnt resist since the power stations were using Geth modified drive cores from the Migrant Fleet.

"Absolutely! I mean, as long as Shepard doesn't need backup or anything."

"Go have fun Tali I'll be back before you know I was gone," Shepard smiled as Tali ran up to him and hugged him, she took her mask off for a few seconds to kiss him before he left.

"I love you, be safe," She said trying to be calm, she was too excited to be worried but she couldnt help it.

"I love you too Tali, I promise I'll be back in one week, no more and maybe sooner," with that he hugged her again and headed to the ship, set course for the Mass Relay and was off to Sur'Kesh.

..

As Shepard entered the system and approached Sur'Kesh a voice crackled over the coms.

"Ship, please identify yourself, _wait what_?_ Affirmative_, you're clear to land Specter, a team will be at the landing zone to meet you."

"That was strange," Shepard couldn't help but feel somewhat uneasy over that little deal.

As he landed he was greeted by a small squad of Salarians with rifles and the leader of the squad.

"Heard you were coming in, saw ship and thought it was Geth. Still don't trust them myself," The Salarian shook Shepards hand as they walked out of the docking area.

"I have two things to do here, I have a speach to give to your people and I have an appointment with one of your doctors afterwords, can you send me a map?" Shepard was happy he wasn't being shot at for once in his life while on another planet.

"Better yet, well accompany you to each of your destinations. After your visit is through here we will guide you back to your ship. After all you must be tired and wish to rest in peace," The led him to the communications array where he was to give his speach.

Shepard walked into a large room with a pedastl that reminded him of the speaches givin on Earth by the leaders. It brought both good and bad memories out, but he bottled them up for when he went back to Rannoch. He began his speach, proud and sad at the same time. Mordin was his friend and brother, so he would say what needed to be said to make Mordin the Hero he truelly was to his people.

As he exited the Coms array the squad leader greeted him.

"Quite the speech Shepard, Mordin will be missed," he hung his head for a couple seconds in gratitude and proceeded to lead Shepard to the medical sector.

"Do you know the name of the doctor you were here to see?"

"No but he will recognise me, after all, I knew his brother," Shepard was still trying to understand why Mordin had been hiding his brother for so long, he refused to even accknoledge he still had family.

"Ah, I think I know who," He pulled up the communicator on his Omnitool and requested a doctor be sent up.

"Shepard, good to see you still in one piece," A Salarian walked out from an office next to the group.

Shepard froze, this salarian looked exactly like Mordin, he wore all the same clothes and he had on a similar Omnitool that Mordin had. In fact it was damaged, as if it had been in an explosion.

"You must be Mordins brother," Shepard extended his hand out.

"Yes well, we must be going, he wont be leaving for a few days, Ill take him for now," He said to the squad leader, he nodded and left.

"My brother gave me some of your DNA to play around with, as well as some Quarian DNA from several subjects," He lead Shepard down a hall to his lab.

"I've run thousands of tests and had several volunteers from both species come in to help with experiments," He opened the door and Shepard looked around, looked like a genetics lab. Only devoted to Human, Quarian research.

"Quarians are the most similar to Humans of the other species in terms of Genetics and DNA," He pulled out a vid of an experiment gone right.

"So it works?" Shepard asked excitedly but still skeptical.

Dr. Solus smiled, "Yes it does."

"Be aware, you will no longer be able to have children with your own species," He paced around the room looking at different graphes and information making sure it was all in order.

"You will remain as you are, still human only slightly modified," He finished rounding up wis data as he finished the sentance.

"You will not change physically, but you may have to endure some unforseen sideeffects, are you sure you want to do this?" Dr. Solus asked knowing the answer allready.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Allright, will do some tests on your cybernetic implants as well. Might be able to remove them and repair tissue, bone and muscle damage."

"That would be nice, just try not to kill me. It's getting annoying."

Solus chuckled at that, "Will do Shepard, will try to keep you sedated for the remainder of your stay for your own comfort."

..

Shepard woke up on the final day of his stay on Sur'Kesh. He was groggy and still somewhat doped up. The squad carried him to his ship by his shoulders slowely so he could try to keep on his feet. As he got in the shuttle the squad leader set a course for Rannoch and bid Shepard farewell.

As the ship hit the Mass Relay he bagan to snap out of his drug indused state. He was attempting to sit up but a major fit of dizzyness came over him. He layed back down and hit the update on his omnitool to do a scan on his body.

Immune system: Weakened

Chance of survival without life support: 72.4%

He read this back through his mind over and over realizing Dr. Solus wasn't joking about sideeffects. He didn't regret his decision, he only hoped he would survive it. He was slowely readapting to life without cybernetic implants. But the immuno booster implant Solus had put in his arm burned like hell.

He dicided to run one final summary of the suit.

User status: Healthy

Immune system: Stable

Blood status: Clean

User Genetic Profile: Human Male

Shepard looked at the data, somewhat pleased he had managed to adapt to the new genetics, He felt closer to the Quarians since he had spliced Quarian genes with his own but made sure it didn't strip him of his race.

..

As the ship docked at the bay, Tali ran up to Shepard and gave him a hug. She noticed he was shaking uncontrollably and immediately called for help. A Geth unit came running out and ran a scan on Shephard.

"Shepard, commanders vitals are strong but his immune system is at the same level as yours Creator, Tali."

"What?" Tali was shocked to hear this but had no time to second guess it.

"Get him back to our house, I need to shoot him with antibiotics and medicine," She ran back to the house to prepair the supplies as the Geth placed him on te table in the living area.

"Tali, I feel fine really. Just a nasty cold, and some cold sweating." He smiled as he put his head back down.

"You idiot what happened on Sur'Kesh. Did you get poisoned or shot?" Tali spoke sternly now thinking it was a bad idea to let him go alone.

"I'm fine really, all I need is some sleep." He slowely got up from the table and walked to the bedroom.

Tali sighed, worried but understood there are always chances for misreadings in scanners. She slowely walked into the room and crawled into bed with him. She noticed something odd, he didn't remove is suit before he went to bed.

"Shepard, is there something your not telling me? Please I have to know, you know I worry about you," She pulled close to him and put her arm around him.

"Tali, if I told you it would spoil my suprise for you," he chuckled as he said this noticing the delerium had finally faded away.

He turned over and removed his visor and she followed suit. they began undressing. Before anything happened however, Shepard activated the steril field in the room. Tali moaned softly as they made love slowly. She bit her lip as she lay on her back. She pulled herself up to kiss Shepard as they progressed.

..

Two weeks after they made love Tali began feeling sick more often, she didn't understand it. She was also noticing Shepard carrying around a utility belt with all of the same things that a Quarian would have from antibiotics to nutripaste. She was slowely piecing together the facts but she thought is was crazy.

A knock on the door, Shepard answered to Raan and let her in. She and Shepard spoke as Tali lay on the couch relaxing still trying to figure out why she was feeling sick. Raan walked over to Tali and put a hand on her stomach and gasped.

"What is it?" Tali exclaimed

"This can't be, I must run tests on this, it's not possible. Shepard I need you to follow me. You as well Tali."

"What's going on!"

"We're going to find out soon Tali, come one I'll walk with you," Shepard put his arm around Tali and she did the same.

As they arrived, Raan took a drop of blood from Shepard and one from Tali and ran scans on both of them. She gasped realizing what had happened on Sur'Kesh, she turned to Shepard.

"You realize your going to be needing to take classes right?"

"What classes?" Shepard sounded confused.

"Advanced engineering of course, every young Quarian is required to take it. However I believe I can teach it to you myself along with the other lessons."

"Raan, what are you talking about? Whats wrong with me?" Tali asked worried about her own health at this point.

Raan took her datapad and showed it to Tali. Tali was speechless, she had loved Shepard so much, they had talked about adoption. But now things were different, Shepard was essentially one of her own people now. He had made himself able to give her children, she stood up and walked over to him and slapped him. After he recoiled from the slap she bent down and kissed him deeply.

"That was for worrying me sick you bosh'tet. That on the otherhand was because your going to be a father."

.

..

.

So basically Shephard had himself genetically altered in such a way that he was a half breed of Quarian and Human. The child will be a normal Quarian child not the dreaded Quman that has been circulating.


	7. Family Matters

A few days of fevers and cold sweats and Shepard began feeling much better, he was accepting himself for who he chose to be and why. Tali looked up at him through her visor, still in disbelief at what he had done just for her.

As these thoughts rolled around in her head, she found herself being able to dream about raising a family without the words 'impossible' or 'mistake' rolling through her head. A family, a normal family, no wars, no fighting. A smile came over her as she cried tears of joy. Shepard rolled over and faced her putting his arm over her pulling her close. She burried her head in his chest and held him tightly.

..

Tali sat on the bed thinking to herself, thinking about all that they had endured as both a couple and as a team. Through thick and thin he protected her, held her, in some ways he had healed her. She felt useless, she had done nothing in return other than carry his child. She looked at the photo on the desk of them in the garden as it was being finished, the look of pure love in his eyes as he held her.

"I have to do something for him," she said to herself quietly so as not to wake him up.

She quietly exited the bedroom and went to the communications console to send out a request to Admiral Hacket. She thought long and hard about how she would suprise him on their aniversery and hoped that this would be a good gift. After the email was sent out she snuck back into the bedroom and crawlled back into bed with Shepard. She was getting used to sleeping without her suit for once since the house was steril, she was enjoying her new pajamas too.

..

Admiral Hacket saw the email from Tali'Zorah almost as soon as it was sent. He called down to the refugee centers and to some of the command posts around the planet to request a search for some important people. He didn't know what he would find, or even if they were identifyable. Shepards parents had to be somewhere, even if it was only files and/or pictures.

He glanced over at Shepards file and ran through his background, sole survivor on Akuze and only one known living relative before the Reaper attack. Shepards mother's last location was Los Angelis, California. He was working double time to come up with a lead when it hit him, a rogue message had hit the alliance four yuears ago when shepard was KIA, He dove back into his computer and found the message, he didn't read it knowing it was not meant for his eyes.

"Found you," Hacket said under his breath as he tracked the message down to a small town called Eureka.

He asked a small team to check it out and attempt to locate her. The town was not nearly as damaged as some of the others but it was also out of the way. He had high hopes that she was alive and kept his fingers crossed in hopes he was right.

..

Tali woke up before Shepard this time, he was tired from working and coping with his immune defficiancy. She wen't to the console to check for word on her request, one email. She opened it and she gasped, this email was from his mother four years ago. The dates didn't lie, she printed the email to a datapad and slowely crawled back into bed, slipping the datapad into the desk. She looked over at Shepard to see he was still sleeping, she cuddled up to him and fell asleep.

..

"Admiral Hacket, Sir, do you read," A voice came over the coms, it was private Ramirez from the 14th Marine Division.

"I read you loud and clear son, whats your status?"

"We found her, shes in good health and requested she be brought to you specifically."

"I'll have a shuttle ready for you just outside of the town, good work. Hacket out,"

..Two hours later..

A shuttle landed in the docking bay carrying a squad of seven soldiers and a single civilian. They exited out and formed a line to the side of the shuttle door. All of them saluted as the civilian exited, she was somewhat shocked at the royal treatment she was recieving. Admiral Hacket proceeded to move towards the shuttle and saluted her, he then lead her to a lounge near his office.

"How are you Mrs. Shepard? I'm glad to see you made it through the eye of the storm," He said as he offered her a chair.

"I'm doing fine, there was a lot of death around me but I managed to find my husbands old rifle and protect myself and some of the people in the town," she sat down and leaned on the table.

"Can I offer you something to drink?"

"I wouldn't mind a cup of Chamomile Tea."

He walked over and typed a command into the console, the synthesizer came on with a low pitched moan and liquid poured into the cup. He walked over and poured himself a cup of coffee and handed the Tea to her.

"Thank you, I've always been amazed at how quickly your synthesizer works and how accurate it is. The one back home makes it taste like a mix between pond water and Tea flavored syrup.," She chuckled as she enjoyed the tea.

"Of course, but than again weve had to fix it several times already, turns out it doesnt like mixing soup and sandwich when its told to make food."

They both laughed as they wen't back and forth about the goings on in the galaxy and the little things as well. Finally he sat up and took a deep breath.

"Well I suppose it's time to explain why we were looking for you."

"I was curious, but honestly it feels good to be back on an alliance vessel."

"It's your son, John."

"Is he ok? I havent heard from him since he was put on house arrest after the Omega-4 incident."

"He's fine, his better half requested we contact you and ask if your willing to make a trip to Rannoch in the Terminus Systems."

She perked up, "Rannoch, that's the Quarrian homeworld isn't it? I thought it was taken siege by the Geth?"

"The Geth have allied themselves with the Quarians after the they accepted the Geth as a true life-form."

"Interesting, I would love to go and see my son. I take it hes still with that Tali'Zorah girl he always talked about."

"Yes he is, shes the one who requested we find you." Admiral Hacket stood up and typed a command into the table to project a star map and zoomed into Rannoch.

"It's arid but beautiful, can you zoom to where he is staying?"

"I can but it isn't a live feed," he zoomed to a house on a small cliff over looking an ocean.

"He has built himself quite the life there, I'm proud of him," she said with a smile.

"We all are, without him the whole galaxy would have been wiped of organic life."

"How will I get there? The alliance isn't allowed to go through the traverse I thought."

"A shuttle will be sent soon to pick you up."

..

Shepard woke up to find Tali curled into a ball up against him, he stroked her hair as he got up. He headed toward the kitchen to cook up some breakfast with the synthesized food the Geth had been manufacturing. He could still eat food from earth but he would get sick every so often when something kicked off his immune system so he desided to stick to synthesized foods the Quarians could eat.

He cooked up a standard meal to see if Tali would like it, Eggs, Bacon, Bread with butter. The synth food didn't taste completely on but it tasted closer to the real thing than the Alliance synthesized foods. He walked into the bedroom and lightly woke Tali up.

"Hey, breakfast is ready," he said quietly.

"Good morning," she yawned as she sat up.

"Morning, you wanna eat?"

She yawned as she got out of bed, "Sure, what did you make?"

"A traditional meal from Earth only you and I can eat it without getting sick."

"Really?" She was suprized, usually she was warned against eating food that wasn't sanitized and rich in Amino-Dextrous Acids.

They walked to the dining area where the still steaming plates sat. The smell was too good to pass up for Tali. She immediately sat down and tried a bite of the eggs, bacon and bread.

"Keelah Shepard, this is delicious. How an we eat it though?" she asked curiously.

"I spoke to a Geth who maintained the food synthesizing plant and they managed to recreate the food in a way that maintained the flavor but made it safe for us to eat."

"They really are amazing, so are you," she smiled as she took in the flavors from the food.

A beep on the communications console caught her attention as she was finishing her plate. She got up and checked the message. The email read, "We found her, shes waiting on the 4th fleet command carrier with me. Fly safely Tali. ~Hacket". She went over to Shepard and hugged him, then ran into their bedroom to switch into her envirosuit.

"Where you goin?" shepard asked at the doorway.

"I have an errand to run out by Omega, I'll be back in a day or so," she was just refitting her straps across her chest.

"Need help?"

"No, I think Raan wants you to help her maintain one of the new fusion reactors so she can train you a little more."

She walked up to him and kissed him deeply, "Don't worry, I'll be back I promise. I love you."

"I love you too Tali. Stay safe," he was worried but knew she could hold her own.

..

Tali took the ship and headed towards the Mass Relay and set course for Omega. The fleet had been searching the system for the remainder of Cerberus and so Hacket made sure his fleet was the one to be there. She had time to think about what was going on in her life and Shepards. He had been acting strangely around her. Making breakfast, buying her new clothes so she didn't have to wear her suit all the time. He even changed his body to match her genetic makeup enough to have children.

As she entered the system she immediately saw the command carrier waiting near the relay for her.

"Unidentified vessel, state your purpose," a voice crackled over the coms.

"This is Tali'Zorah vas Normandy requesting permission to dock. Admiral Hacket is expecting me."

"Just a moment, ok you're clear to dock in bay 3, Admiral Hacket will meet you there."

She manually flew the ship into the docking bay. Soldiers and engineers were waiting, only a few were running around working on what projects they had been assigned. As she exited the ship the soldiers saluted her, Shepard had taught her about the Alliance. She saluted them back and then Admiral Hacket walked up.

"At ease boys, Tali, good to see you."

"Likewise Admiral."

"I see Shepard has been teaching you about our code of conduct, don't worry about following it here."

"Thank you, I was nervous saluting them," She lightened up and chuckled as she said this.

They walked to the lounge.

"So your ship, it's an interesting design. We couldnt read the RFF on it though."

"We haven't really needed to fix it lately but if you would like to have an engineer tag it feel free."

He went to a console and put in a request to have the ship tagged as a civilian vessel. He knew if it was tagged as alliance trouble would ensue within the Terminus systems.

"So where is she?" Tali asked impatient to meet Shepards mother.

"Right inside this door," Hacket opened the door and an aged, thin, brunette woman in Alliance fatigues got up and walked towards her.

"So your Tali'Zorah," Ashley said as she shook Tali's hand.

"I am, and your Ashley Shepard?"

"I am, how was the flight?"

"It was smooth, it was nice of Admiral Hacket to have the ship so close to the relay," she pointed at Hacket.

"It was no issue, we have to monitor the Relay closely to make sure no Cerberus vessels get in or out." Hacket got up and started headed out the door.

"Im going to let you get to know eachother, call me on the coms when your ready to leave and I'll see you both out," with this he left.

..Two hours later..

"Well I suppose we've spoken enough, I'm happy your the girl my boy chose," She got up and put her glass in the sanitizer unit.

"You ready to go see him?" Tali asked as she got ready to radio Hacket.

"Yes I am."

"Alright," Tali got on the coms to Hackets office. "We're ready Admiral."

"Alright, I'm headed your way now."

Admiral Hacket entered the lounge and then lead the two women to the ship. He saw them into the doorway and then said his goodbyes. The ships docking door closed and then they left the bay and set course for the Relay.

..

Shepard was having fun in the Reactor, his envirosuit already saved his life twice. They had turned the reactor on without checking the plasma vents and one of them discharged on shepards side. He could feel the heat but the suit held. Then the reactor flooded with helium-3 gas because one of the valves didn't get tightened properly. He was laughing to himself at how much he was learning and how fun it actually was to be doing this kind of work.

"My my Shepard," Raan said as she watched him fixing every problem within a very short amount of time.

"You know Tali was the top of her class in engineering, you would have made it right next to her had you been raised on the flotilla."

"Thank you Raan, that means a lot to me to hear you say that," He nodded as he corrected the last of the bugs.

As he finished with the last of the changes he forced a restart on the reactor. No glitches no issues at all. The reactor hummed lowly and no error messages popped up.

"Impressive Shepard, you managed to do in one try what would take others several."

"How would you feel about programming a VI to maintain this reactor?" She asked.

"That sounds like a challange, I can do it."

..four hours later..

"I have a basic VI built, so far Ive been able to get it to manage the software for the reactor to manage heat distrobution and fuel consumption."

"Impressive yet again, you make us proud to see you in that suit."

"Thank you again Raan," he said not used to getting all the praise she was giving.

..

Tali woke up as she noticed the sligh bump of the Mass Effect core exiting the Relay. She went up and set course for Rannoch. Ashley was just now waking up realizing where she was after seeing Rannoch in the distance.

"So we finally see it in person, it looks like a very peaceful planet."

"It is, it was hard not being able to walk where my ancestors were over thee hundred years ago."

As they entered the atmosphere, Tali opened communications with Raan.

"We're back, tell Shepard to meet us at the house when hes done with whatever work you've givin him."

"Will do Tali, hell be happy to hear it."


	8. Reunion

Shepard desided to run the way home instead of getting a ride from Raal. He was working with his hands all day but felt like getting some more exercise. He ran to the cliff and stopped, he looked up and started thinking. After a couple minutes of resting he desided to go around and freeclimb some other day.

As he reached the house he saw Tali standing there with someone else, a woman. As he got closer he recognised Alliance fatigues and. Her face, he knew that face, it was one he had not seen in years. He had only talked to her through emails and voice calls but he hadnt seen her in years. He sprinted up and he hugged both her and Tali.

"Mom, how have you been, how did you find me?" he asked excitedly.

"I've been fine and it wasn't me who found you. It was your Tali that found me."

"Tali, you went out of your way to find my mother? Thank you."

Tali walked up and put her arm around wis back and rested her head on his shoulder. Ashley saw the look in his eyes, love and relief.

"So you gonna invite me in?" Ashley chuckled.

"Oh yeah right, you want something to eat I can have some regular food synthesized for you."

"I'd like that, I heard your immune system is shot. What happened?"

"When I went to see Mordins brother he also removed my implants and ran some specialized compounds through my system to heal any damage. Unfortunately one thing the implants were doing was bolstering my immune system. As soon as Dr. Solus ran the gene splicing on my body it reacted with my immune system."

"So you cant go without your envirosuit?"

"No I can, you just caught me while I was just finishing work for Shala'Raan on one of the new fusion reactors."

"My my, youve taken up engineering? You always did have a nack for fixing things around the house when you were little."

Tali went and showed Ashley to the dining area as Shepard prepaired a meal.

"So he can't eat food from earth anymore?" She asked Tali.

"He can't eat non-synthesized food that isn't rich in Dextro-Amino Acids, he gets very sick otherwise and so do I."

"So where do you get your food from?"

"He passed a data disk over to the geth that had the genetic profile of every food on Earth. Basically the Geth synthesize the ingrediants and he cooks using them. He said it all cooks the same, it's just a different chemical makeup."

Shepard was cooking up some synth beef and turkey to make hot sandwiches. He had made sure to run a special powder along his mothers food to neutralize the acids. He finished making everything and brought out the plates.

"What is this now?" Tali asked curiously.

"Taste it," He said as he bit down on his.

"Wow, the synthetic foods here are incredibly accurate," Ashley said as she took a bite.

"I know I was suprized too, it beats Alliance synthesizers by a light year."

Tali took a bite and was lost in flavor, she was still not used to not using the nutripaste but she was loving it.

"The nice thing about this is the sythetic oil I use doesn't stay in the food, it vaporizes after it cools down and gets sucked into the vents as a form of water vapor."

"Tasty and healthy, my kind of food," Ashley laughed.

As they finished eating Shepard walked them into the living room. Tali sat next to him on the couch as Ashley sat on the love seat.

"So, mom, how were things back on Earth?"

Ashley paused at the question for a moment and then sighed, "It was hell, as soon as we saw the Reaper ships hitting Los Angelis we hid in the bunkers under the town. I picked up your fathers old rifle and helped lead everyone to safety. There were a few casualties but most of the town survived. The husks were what really hit us though."

"I'm glad you made it, I was in London when the citidel blew."

"I had heard about that, actually about two weeks later the Zekera Ward Wing fell and hit Venezuela. We have a large tower sticking in the ground there now."

"Are they at least attempting to rebuild the citidel?"

"Actually, I had spoken with Admiral Hacket about that. The council races are inviting the Quarians into the council again, and they are asking for help to build a new citidel, this time designed as we see fit."

A knock on the door. Shepard gets up and checks who it is and opens the door. Raan walks in and is rather happy.

"The council is rebuilding," she said.

"We know, my mother filled me in," Shepard said pointing at Ashley.

"Ah this is Ashley Shepard then. It is a pleasure to meet you, how long are you staying?"

"Good to meet you Shala'Raan, I'm not sure, I do have to be back on Earth within a couple weeks though. I pulled a few strings with hacket to get me reinstated as a field medic."

"Good line of work, theres always a life to be saved in these dark days," Raan smiled behind her visor, Ashley was good woman and cared for life.

"Well, I'll tell you something a also came here to say. I've been asked to be the council representative for the Quarian race."

"Congratulations Raan!" Tali and Shepard said in an aquerd unison.

" Will you take the job?" Ashley asked.

"I will, and I'm asking Zaal'Koris to be my assistant."

"Oh boy, oh, mom if you ever meet him. For the love of god don't ask him about his ship name."

"Why?"

"Because he isn't so fond of explaining the story behind it and usually it's hard to get him to shut up."

"What is his formal name?"

"Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib Qwib," Tali replied trying not to laugh.

Ashley busted up laughing, as the mood lightened up Raan laughed a little too.

"He has worn it as a badge of honor but we've told him to change it for years, unfortunately they had a hard time doing so," Raan said still chuckling.

"Well, I think it's time I be off, anee vu'nua," she said as she left.

"anee vu'nua?" Ashley asked curiously.

"It's Kellish for, ancestors watch over you," Shepard answered.

"Your multilingual now," Ashley laughed, she had never been able to grasp any other language than english (a.k.a. common trade language).

"Kellish is a very low key language, no recorded data on it except on the migrant fleet or here on Rannoch," Tali said as she got comfortable next to Shepard.

"Interesting, I may have to learn some Kellish if ever I come back."

"I'd love to teach you," Tali said as she yawned, it was getting late and the sun was setting.

"Well I think it's getting late, I'll go out to the ship."

"Nonsense, your sleeping in the guest room," Shepard said as he grabbed her before she even reached the door.

"Thank you, it's been a while since I've slept comfortably."

They said their goodnights and Tali went and got undressed and put on her pajamas. They were plaid red white and black. The upper portion was a tight plain black T-Shirt that formed comfortably to her physique. Shephard slipped into his pajama pants and got into bed with Tali.

"Thank you for what you did, it was amazing to see her again after all these years." He went over and kissed her.

"I was just thinking of you, you and Raan are the only family I have left so I thought maybe your mother was still on Earth."

She put her arm around his side and stroked his back as they talked and kissed. Her legs and his were intertwined.

"The only time I've ever talked to her was through voice calls and emails. Seeing her, thanks to you could see her for the first time in years."

She rolled over on top of him and they began making out. She desided while his mother was visiting they would hold off on sex. But she didn't see a problem with intimacy, after all making out was something that was commonplace in society, that or just kissing.

After they started yawning, she rolled back over and cuddled up to him with an arm over his chest and a leg in between his. His hand held hers as they drifted off to sleep.


	9. Welcome to the Family

..Dream Sequence..

Shepard walks out of the house to find Rannoch in flames, his home destroyed. He looks around frantically for signs of life, I glowing crack in a rock presents itself. He reaches to it and a three fingered hand comes to his shoulder.

..End Dream Sequence..

Shepard wakes up sweating and breathing heavily, Tali shot up as soon as she noticed. He was shivering as he regained himself from the shock of his nightmare.

"Are you ok?," Tali asked, she put a hand on his shoulder.

"I, I'm just having nightmare problems," He said, the image of Rannoch in flames disturbed him deeply.

He then began analyzing his state, high temperature, delerium, he was getting sick. He immediately got up and put his envirosuit on. Tali noticed something was wrong and followed suit, she slipped her suit on as well.

"I think my mother may have brought something in with her," Shepard said as he crawled back into bed, his temperature dropped back down over time and his head cleared.

Tali followed him back into bed and cuddled up to him, "I'm just glad you caught it before it got serious, I was worried when I felt how hot your skin was to the touch."

He stroked her arm and they slowely drifted back to sleep. His dream shifted from a nightmare to something different. It was like his heart was talking to him, he listened.

..Dream Sequence..

Shepard was running to a clear spot after the Reaper had knocked the platform out from under them.

"How are we supposed to fight that thing," Tali said frightened as she followed closely behind.

Flash forward

"If we run away the Geth stay under control and the Quarians are dead. This ends now!" Shepard said as he prepared himself to destroy the reaper however he could.

"If this doesn't, if we don't make it..." Tali began.

"You worry too much." Shepard said.

"I love you."

"Keelah se'lai"

Flash forward

"You, whatever species you came from. They died thousands of years ago and now they can rest in piece."

"Shepard!" Tali ran over to him.

Flash forward

"Shopping for another house?" Shepard asked Tali as she walked to the cliff edge.

"Beachfront property," she replied jokingly.

"Claim it fast, it's a buyers market," he countered.

Tali sat down staring out at her homworld, Shepard sat next to her.

"You ok? I know working with the Geth will be difficult."

"I'm not staying, I'm coming with you," she glanced over at him with longing in her eyes,

"I wasn't going to ask," he said knowing how much this moment meant to her.

"Why not?"

"Because I respect you damnit. You think I don't want you to come with me?"

"So ask me."

"Tali..."

"I don't know how much time we have left, I don't know if we can beat the Reapers."

"But whatever happens, I want to be with you..."

"I bet you say that to every guy who gets you a homeworld," he joked.

"Only the cute ones," she joked back.

"You know I'd understand if you needed to stay."

"I know, but..."

"I look at all this... This picture of hope and peace. And all I see, is everyone I've lost."

"My team on Heastrom, my father, even Legion. I'm mourning a Geth, how crazy is that?"

"It's not crazy at all."

Tali got up and looked out to the landscape.

"It is beautiful though, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is."

"It will be years before we can live without our suits completely, but right now..."

She removed her visor, "Right now, I have this."

.. End Dream Sequence..

Tali woke up to find Shepard outside looking off the cliff. She slipped out of bed and went outside. He was looking out at the scenery that was before them, great plains of grass and the beach sitting to the left, the waves rolling in and out slowely.

"Hey," Tali walked up and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, how'd you sleep?" He asked grasping her hand.

"I slept well thanks to you," She went up and pulled herself close to him.

"I dreamt of you last night, when we saved the homeworld."

"I, I know," She stuttered.

"How?"

"I did too."

They both sat down on the cliff edge and looked out. She layed down and rested her head in his lap. He put his arm around her and relaxed, he was thinking about their future together moreso than ever before. She noticed he was deep in thought as she looked up at him, then decided to enjoy the moment.

"I spoke with some Geth and we're going to have a pool installed later this week."

"Keelah Shepard, what about the ocean? It's right there," she said quite curious as to his reasoning.

"We both aren't immune to bateria in the ocean yet, and the Geth said that they would build a sterile field into a small portion of the ocean for us, basically a pool."

She paused for a moment realizing what he was talking about, "I see, I would like that. A chance to swim in the waters of the homeworld. Without an envirosuit at that," She smiled at the thought of learning to swim. The cramped space of the Migrant Fleet meant that there was no room for such commodities.

Shepard smiled at the image of Tali in a bikini, he couldn't help it after all he was partly human.

Asheley walked outside and watched the two of them. She didn't want to bother them so she went out front and sat on a bench. She popped a cigarette in her mouth and lit it. She was happy her boy had found love and a life he would enjoy. She was secretly planning the gifts she would buy, both for the child and for the future wedding. She took a drag and relaxed knowing she had raised a good son and was proud to call Tali her "daughter".

The couple started heading back to the house, stomachs growling. Shepard opened the door for Tali and proceeded into the kitchen. Ashley finished her cigarette and reentered the house. She walked into the kitchen and motioned for Shepard to let her do the cooking this morning, he nodded and went to sit by Tali.

She was rubbing her hand on her stomach, she could feel it getting bigger every day. He put his hand on her leg and touched visors. He knew if either of them removed their visor, they could potentially get sick. He looked into her eyes as Ashley walked out of the kitchen, he looked over at her. He got up and had her step outside for a moment as he engaged the sterile field. They then walked into the kitchen to bring the food out.

Tali removed her visor and Shepard followed suit, they both looked t the meal Ashley had prepared, Hash Browns, Eggs, Bacon and bread lightly buttered. Tali took in the aroma as she began to eat. Shepard looked over at his mother and smiled in gratatude, she smiled back and picked up the fork.

"You remember to neutralize the Amino Acids in your food right?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, I'm aware I can'teat it without neutralizing the acids. I appreciate your concern though," she smiled and went back to her plate.

"So mom, if your going back to the alliance you should talk to Hacket about assigninng you aboard the new R&S Normandy," Shepar said.

"Oh? Isn't that the ship you commanded for a while?"

"Yes, the S&R Normandy is a remake of the origional MSV Normandy SR2."

"Designed for speed and has a larger cargo space than the origional I'm guessing."

"It is designed for search and rescue, plus you are a combat medic."

"I take it Joker is still flying it?"

"Yes he is, him and his fiance EDI."

"EDI, the AI? I've never heard of that sort of relationship before."

"Tali is still a skeptic, I think if it makes him happy let him do it."

Tali looked over at him, "It's just not something you hear of very often. An organic and a synthetic in love. I don't disapprove, it's just very rare."

Shepard got up after noticing everyone was finished and collected the dishes and brought them into the kitchen. Ashley looked at Tali and began chatting with her.

"I saw you two relaxing on the cliff just outside, it's a beautiful view."

"It is, it's growing more beautiful than before since the Geth erected the planetary solar shield."

"I've noticed, the vids don't do Rannoch justice now, its slowely turning into a garden world."

"You know what 'Rannoch' means right?"

"Walled garden if I remember correctly, the alliance has a very limited record on your language."

"It's good that you understand some of our language, most ignore it."

"Only fractures of it, nothing special. My son on the other hand seems to be quite fluent in Kellish, " She got up.

"I think I'm going to need to be headed back to Earth soon, the rebuilding effort doesn't manage itself."

"I understand," Tali got up.

Shepard walked out and Ashley told him she needed to go, he nodded and put his visor back on. Tali and Shepard walked Ashley to the ship and boarded.

"So, Eureka, California huh?" Shepard asked as he set course for the Mass Relay.

"Yep, small town. I was asked to be head of the rebuilding effort before I left."

Ashley got up and fiddled around with her hands slipping something into one of Shepards pockets with a piece of paper. She put her arm around him and kissed his forhead.

"I'm proud of you, saving the galaxy and finding a beautiful Quarian girl," She sat back down.

"Thank you mom."

As they entered the Sol system they noticed fragments of the citidel free floating and beginning to adopt an orbit with Saturn. They approached Earth and the first thing they noticed was one of the arms sticking out of the planet.

"They've been trying to pull it out but they're afraid of cracking the planet if it went too deep," Ashley said as they passed what used to be Zakera Ward.

The approached California quickly and steadily hoping their ships new Identification would keept them from being made into cannon fodder.

"Civilian Alliance Vessel you are clear to land," a voice crakcled over the comms.

"Alliance? Tali I thought Hacket ordered his engineers to have it marked non-alliance civilian?"

"They installed a masked ID on it only the Alliance can read," Tali responded.

As they landed at the Eureka terminal they got up and hugged Ashley.

"Thank you for visiting us," Shepard said as he hugged her tightly.

"Thanks for coming, mother," Tali said a little nervous how she would take it.

"Tali, theres no need to be nervous. You'll always be one of the family," she hugged Tali and walked down the loading ramp.

"I'll be coming your way again don't worry! I love you both!" She yelled.

"I love you too mom!" They yelled in unison, Tali blushed at it but enjoyed the notion that Ashley already considered her as a daughter.

They began exiting orbit and slowely increasing speed to the Mass Relay when an urgent email appeared on both of their Omnitools origionating from Horizon.

The message read,

'Cerberus on Horizon, need help. They've killed most of the colony only 100 survivors at the most left. ~Ashley Williams'


	10. Blackened Horizon

"Cerberus again, bosh'tets," Shepard muttered under his breath.

"Just when I thought we were going to settle down, I'll get my shotgun," Tali said as she walked to the back.

"No you won't, I already sent a message to Garrus. He's already on his way."

"So what your going to go risk your life and not let me back you up?" By now Tali was flustered over what he was saying.

"Tali do you really feel risking the life of our child is necisarry? Please, if not for me then for our child. I promise I won't go anywhere untill Garrus arrives."

Tali froze, she knew he was right. Her being pregnant meant she had no room to take risks.

"Damn it Shepard," She started to say before he embraced her, she held on tight knowing he wasn't going anywhere and he would be safe.

"Tali don't worry so much, all you need to worry about is what we name our child." He removed his visor and she did the same, they kissed as a voice crackled over the comms.

"Archangel reporting, Shepard whats the situation?"

Shepard was pleased to here the oice of his closest friend after their run-in on Illium.

"Come on board and I'll debrief you."

"Will do, I brought a friend along I think youll wanna meet."

Garrus closed the channel and docked with Shepard and Tali's ship. As he started down the docking tube he beckoned for a Salarian to come with him. It was Dr. Solus and he was in STG uniform.

"Good to see you again Garrus, Dr. Solus I wasn't aware you were in the STG," Shepard shook Garrus hand and nodded at Solus in greating, he nodded back.

"Turns out he has a new toy built to make Cerberus equipment safeties go off prematurely, whoever isn't killed has no comms, no air, no electronics. When they wanna protect something they go above and beyond the call of duty."

"Indeed, as subject flatlines, explosives detonate destroying equipment. Most painful, often lethal, not one hundred percent lethal however," Solus quickly replied.

"Whats the range on it?"

"In current form, fifty yards. However, if we hook it up to the communications relay it will spread across the planet."

"So then, our objective is to secure the relay and activate Dr. Solus' device. Then we need to find and assist Ashley in cleaning up the rest of the surviving troops."

"What can I do from here?" Tali piped in.

"Keep an eye on us from orbit, you see anything near us tell us. If you can try to identify friend or foe so no civilians get shot."

"Better than just sitting here doig nothing for the next couple hours," Tali got the view set up and monitoring Cerberus signals, the one thing that gives it's soldiers away.

Garrus threw Shepard his old rifle and nodded to him as they prepared for contact. As the ship dropped into the lower atmosphere they immediately spotted multiple hot zones and began plugging the cordinates into their omnitools. One of the planetary defence battaries stood in the center of the colony.

"Garrus, we need to secure that battery, you can perch up there and give us sniper support."

"Sounds like a plan, does the ship have any weapons on it?"

"Yes I had the Geth install some modified guns from the Heavy Fleet on the belly of the ship."

"You mean the rail cannons? Those are far too big though," Tali began.

"The Geth refitted them with smaller barrels and fit a Mass Effect Core into them. It'll be less punch but it's good for orbital support."

Garrus imediately went into the small maintanence hatch to check calibrations on the guns and came out after about a few minutes.

"There, the guns should be able to hit a bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy from orbit now," Garrus chuckled.

"Alright we're over the drop zone, be careful Shepard. That goes for you two as well, if anything happens to him. Well, just hope nothing happens to him, trust me."

Garrus shuddered at the thought of an angry Tali, he already knew what she was capable of in a clear state of mind.

"Tali I'll be fine, we need to go," He went over and touched the side of her helmet and touched visors and then jumped out of the hatch, rifle in hand.

Tali took the ship to a low orbit and deployed the guns and readied the 'Eye in the Sky'.

..

Shepard took point and began running towards an intersection, a small squad of Cerberus troopers were just ahead. He took cover and signaled for Garrus to crouch behind a planter on the opposite side of him parralel to the troopers. Dr. Solus was covering the rear flank as they slowely moved in.

Shepard got up and took aim, three shots rang out and two of the troopers fell to the ground. The rest of the squad immediately took cover and began firing.

"This is squad Alpha, contact confirmed requesting ground support," A distorted voice came over the comms.

"Tali, keep an eye on our flanks."

"Will do."

As they continued firing Tali came in over the comms.

"Shepard you have 42 hostiles converging on your position, I need you to tag them for the guns."

Garrus heard everything and immediately broke into a building he was next to and headed to the roof. As soon as he got to the roof door he busted through it and set point near the edge marking the enemy force moving in.

"Shepard, I don't think that distress email was real. Cerberus is far too well armed to just have been attacking the colony," Garrus said over the comms.

Shepard tapped into the ship's cam system and saw what Garrus was talking about.

"Im counting 8 ATLAS mechs or more. Garrus is the targeting laser working?"

"Yes I'm painting the targets now."

A few seconds later and large explosions echoe out from the streets where the force had been from the rail cannons. Shepard immediately headed to the street corner and started firing at the survivors of the bombardment. Smoke filled the air of the roadway as they moved forward. Garrus kept to Shepards rear as he picked off any troopers behind them. Dr. Solus kept to the buildings, eradicating any troopers trying to ambush.

As they came up to the battery Dr. Solus started scanning for a communications array.

"That battery has the most powerful comms array, must go there soon and deploy transmitter."

With that they immediately headed to the entrence only to be greeted by several heavily armed squads. They hadn't seen Shepards squad yet so that gave Shepard time to formulate a plan. he sent Garrus up to the roof of a building with a clear view of the main entrence to the battery. He sent Dr. Solus forward to deploy the transmitter on its own, Solus informed him it had only one stand alone charge in it.

Shepard moved up to get behind a vehicle and crouched down behind it, he started listening to radio chatter and recognised a voice.

"Ashley your attempts to save these people is futile, you need to accept that they are aready dead."

The Illusive Man, but something seemed off about his voice, it was more synthesized.

"Tali can you get a lock on the signal going to the battery?"

Tali began running several signal tracing protocols and began making an attempt at finding an origin point.

"It will take a while, but I was able to get through the encryption."

"Solus, Garrus. Hold for a few minutes and get a good baring on field. I'm working to get a trace on a signal."

"On your mark Shepard," Garrus said as he homed in on a an ATLAS operator sitting inside the cockpit.

"Shepard, I see your still trying to thwart my plans," The Illusive Man came over the comms.

"You know I'm only doing this for the good of mankind, without the research we are performing, we may never have another chance to force humanity into evolution."

"Shove it, I killed you on the citidel I'll kill you again."

"You never fail to amuse me Shepard, you realise you can never truly kill an AI right?"

"Lucky for us, the Geth are more than capable of doing it."

The Illusive Man popped up on a holographic projector inside the ship and Tali jumped.

"N, no, you're dead."

"I'm afraid not you Quarian suit-rat, and now I'm going to prove my dominence."

The ship jerked roughly as its orbit was altered. Tali immediately made a run for an escape pod as the Illusive man set course for Shepards location. Tali secured the hatch and ejected from the ship. They had about ten minutes before the ship would hit the surface.

Tali hit the boosters and came to the ground with concrete shattering force, she got out and and checked the scanner for Shepards signal. She immediately began sprinting to his location.

"Tali come in, damn it we lost contact."

Shepard signaled Dr. Solus to activate the transmitter and immediately began firing as the Transmitter began transmitting its signal, slowely Cerberus troops began falling for unknown reasons.

"It's working! Keep firing!"

They pushed forward, Garrus was on the street now with Shepard as they made their way to the battery.

..

Tali was just now coming to the street she had bombarded, bodies lining the roadway and pieces of ATLAS mechs littering the street. She sprinted to the intersection and turned to the battery sprinting.

She saw Shepard and immediately began yelling, she tried her comms and noticed that the unit had been damaged in the pod. Her voice synthesizer was damaged as well, she finally caught up to them.

Shepard noticed as Tali ran up the stairs out of breath. He immediately caught her and picked her up to relax her muscles.

"The Illusive Man, hes going to destroy the colony. He took control of our ship and is flying it directly onto our position," She said completely out of breath.

"Ok change of plans, we extract Ashley and then make a run for the shuttle port. According to the scanner we have approximately six minutes. Lets Go!"

The ran inside and worked their way up to the control room where Ashley was being held captive by Cerberus operatives. Shepard pulled his pistol and shot each of them in the head as he walked towards Ashley. He shot the bindings on her hands and feet off and carried her out.

"Three minutes to impact," the timer reminded Shepard as they ran to the shuttle port. The ran through rubble filled streets and entered the shuttle port stopping as they saw bodies all over.

"This must have been the final stand against Cerberus."

"It was," Ashley said as she slowely came to.

"Keep moving!"

"Sixty seconds to impact."

They ran to the nearest shuttle and started the ignition sequence. As they began lift off they saw their ship coming down through the atmosphere in a flaming ball of molten metal. As soon as they hit the upper atmosphere they saw the Reaper core detonate.

Tali removed her visor and looked at the voice synthesizer noticing the problem. Shepard looked over and saw what she was looking at. A single shard of metal had gone through the synthesizer just barely missing Tali's throat. She pulled it out and opened the casing, the power unit and the air filtration system had been fully severed.

Shepard removed his visor and gave it to Tali, he took hers and put it on.

"You need it more than I do,"He said as he patched some suit breaches.

Tali sighed, she went to Shepard and whispered in his ear. "When we get back to Rannoch, I'm chaining you to the house."

He laughed realizing what she was talking about.

Garrus set course for the Mass Relay and relaxed along with the rest of the group.

..

Admiral Hacket was having a field day reading new reports revolving around Cerberus' activities, he sighed as his mind went to Ashley. He hadn't had a sitrep from her in over ninety-six hours and was becoming concerned.

"Admiral Hacket sir, we have a transmission from a civilian shuttle requesting to dock."

"Have them dock at bay 31 I'll be down to greet them."

He put down the datapad and pushed himself away from the desk. As he rode the elevator down he had a feeling in his gut something horrible had happened.

..

Shepard hopped out of the shuttle and caught Tali as she jumped out. Hacket walked down the walkway towards them.

"What happened on Horizon, Shepard? Where's your ship?"

"Sir, Cerberus attacked us. The Illusive Man, he's not as dead as we'd hoped," Ashley said as she climbed out of the shuttle.

"He gained control of our ship and detonated the Reaper core in the center of the main colony. The colony was completely obliterated by the neutron blast from the Reaper heart."

"Shepard you've done enough, I'm putting Ashley on this. You need to go back to retire, you've saved the galaxy more than once," Hacket said.

"You have my address if you need me, thank you Admiral."

Tali walked up to Hacket, "Thank you if anyone could get him away from this it's be you."

Hacket smiled and nodded to Tali.

"Ok I guess it's time to head home, Garrus."

"Yes Shepard?"

"Make sure Ashley doesn't do anything stupid."

Ashley gave Shepard the middle finger without looking at him and Garrus busted out laughing.

Before they left for Rannoch Ashley looked over to Shepard, "Stay safe, if anything happens to you or Tali I don't know what I'd do."

"Same to you and Garrus, see you when we see you."

With that they left for Rannoch. The shuttle reminded them of the shuttle they had on the Normandy only smaller. Shepard set the auto pilot and then put his arm around Tali, they both relaxed and fell asleep.

.

..

.

From time to time I'll be switching between Tali/Shepard and Garrus/Ashley. Not too often but I will be tieing the story together with a loose cord. Any ideas feel free to PM me or just leave a review.


	11. Wishes

Shepard had trouble sleeping, this time it wasn't bacteria in the air. Liara had theorized that every race had the ability to share their minds even if it's not a strong ability. He thought about this as he tried to make sense of the dreams he was having. He thought about it, 'Why would I dream of Rannoch burning and then of our victory on Rannoch'.

He turned over to her, she was sleeping soundly. The shuttle finally reached Rannoch, he set course for the shuttle pad outside their house. As they slowely moved through the atmosphere he had time to think about the ability Javik had, reading people through their DNA. 'Maybe all races have the ability, it's just untapped'.

He desided he'd have to get ahold of Javik soon. After saving him twice he figured the Prothean would be willing to help him figure out which of the two had the ability, or at least, who was projecting whos thoughts through touch.

They landed, Shepard got up and checked on Tali. She was still out cold, he picked her up gently and carried her to the house. Both of them were tired from the previous days rescue mission. He sat her down on the bed, she opened her eyes slowely.

"'Yawn', Shepard," she said softly still waking up.

"I'm here, Tali," he lay down next to her as she woke up enough to realize she was home.

"I'll be right back," she got up and went to the closet to get her pajamas.

"Not so fond of sleeping in your suit anymore I take it," Shepard said jokingly.

"I don't know how I did it before honestly."

He began undressing as well, he was used to wearing the suit often, but, he'd never get used to wearing it every hour of every day.

As they both got finished, Tali got into bed and bent over to kiss Shepard. He fealt her gripping his wrist rather hard. A tear came down her cheek and she immediately turned over.

"You're mad at me," Shepard said as he leened on his elbow.

"A little, you scared me, we almost died. You almost died, again," she turned to her back.

"Tali, I won't let anything happen. You know that."

She was slowely beginning to cry more, she sat up. "You don't get it, I love you. I don't know what I would do if I were to lose you again."

He sat up and put oth arms around her hugging her. "What can I do to make it up to you?"

She sniffed and looked up to him, "Stay with me," She hugged him tightly.

He kissed her and layed back down, thinking about those words. 'Stay with me', he promised himself and her that he would. He noticed something had fallen to the ground where he had put his suit. He slowely got up and went to pick it up.

"What the..."

It was a ring, and with it was a piece of paper.

'Son,

I loved your father very dearly, he was both a great soldier and a loving father. I'm passing to you the one sentimental item I have from him in the hopes that you find a girl worthy of yourself to give it to.

Your loving mother, Ashley'

He sat there for a minute soaking in the message, he had to admit the timing was incredable.

He layed back down clutching the ring. Slowely drifting to sleep as he fealt an arm wrap around his side. He held it there and then turned over to put his left arm around her. They both drifted to sleep as their dreams began synchronising.

..

The next morning Shepard woke up to find Tali already up and about. He was still clutching the ring. He looked at it and desided he would have to talk to Raan about it. After all, she was the one who has stood by Tali and himself from the beginning.

Shala'Raan was much like the mother Tali didn't have, where her father was busy Raan had made sure Tali got what she needed.

Tali yelped, Shepard came running.

"Are you ok?" He asked as he rushed to her side.

"I'm fine, just a minor cramp," She said as she got up and walked to the couch.

Her stomach had grown a bit since Shepard's 'operation'. She relaxed as she felt her stomach, she smiled knowing what was going walked over and sat next to her, he looked into her eyes.

"You know I love you right?" He asked.

"And I, you." Her eyes shined with happiness.

He clenched his hands and then let go, he put his hand on her leg.

"Lets go out and do something nice sometime, you and me."

Se giggled, "Like what? Everything I could want is right here."

"Why not go take a walk through the new garden. After all it is quiet and nice."

"That sounds wonderful Shepard."

"Ok well head out tonight."

He kissed her and got up and headed out the door.

"Where are you going? I just gotta go talk to some Geth about a project."

"Ok, I'll see you in a little while."

He left and went to the shuttle, he left for a Geth smelting factory. He got out of the shuttle and went to the nearest Geth.

"Hey I need a favor."

"Of course Creator'Shepard, what do you need?"

"Creator'Shepard?"

"You have been entered into our memory as Quarian, by Creator'Shala."

"Ah, anyway. It's this," He pulled out the ring.

"I need it resized to fit a Quarians finger."

"Of course," The Geth unit took the ring and immediately began working on it.

"It will take approximately one hour to increase the size of this ring."

"It's fine I have some stuff to do first anyway. I'll be back for it."

"Of course, I will have it ready and wait for you here. Is the anything else Creator'Shepard?"

"No that's it for now."

"I will begin work."

Shepard walked back to the shuttle and left for Shala'Raan's house. There were a few things to discuss, he intended to do it now.

..

As he arrived at her house, she walked out of her front door as if she had been waiting for him.

"Admiral Shala'Raan."

"Shepard, I am guessing the time is getting closer isn't it?"

"Then you know what I have to ask?"

"Partly, after all it is pure assumption on my part. I would however prefer if we did this properly, please, come inside I will make some tea."

They walked inside and Raan sat him down on a couch as she walked back into the kitchen to prepare some fresh herbal tea.

"Are you sure you are ready?" She asked.

"I believe so, she deserves a good life and I intend to give it to her."

"Shepard, I am very much so aware of how she feels. It's you I am concerned with."

"Why?"

"Because what you have in mind is a massive commitment. Yes you may have changed yourself genetically for her but, the current most important matter. Are you ready to make a lifetime commitment, I know what happened on Horizon. You are a warrior at heart, are you willing to give your days as a warrior up for her?"

"I may not be able to give up being a warrior but I can promise that I will protect Rannoch, Tali first and formost."

"Shepard, I believe you. The way you speak, your tone tells me all I need to know. I give you my blessing. Is there anything else you wish to ask me?"

"I was wondering if you could perform the cerimony."

"I would be honored."

.

..

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This is the last full chapter I'm doing for this fic for now. I'm going to do a timeline of important events that will get updated from time to time to fit with the next fic. I already have a fair portion of the next fic's 1st chapter done but it will take some time to write.

I hope I didn't kill this fic too much, hence why I'm ending it prematurely. Unfortunately as tired as I've been from working all day, it's shown in my writing so I'm having my significant other edit for me to make sure the chapters come out right for this upcoming fic.

ok now for hints as to what the next fic entails.

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya and John'Shepard vas tasi are involved but not primary.

Voilence erupts an unexpected savior emerges.

A new way of life is found on a planet long lost.

If you were wondering about Johns name, read After Sacrifice through again, he adopted Quarian lifestyle and tradition (Though I always refered to him as Shepard).

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Anyway, I'll release a timeline in the next few days. Sorry for the delay but I have been quite busy being on call for work 24/7/4/12.

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As I said though this next fic is going to be edited properly and the chapters will be more detailed and about 3x-4x longer since if it turns out good I'm having it published locally (With permission from Bioware of course, friggin copyright laws).

Eventually I'm going to come back to this fic and extend it. Ill tie some chapters to eachother and work on making it as detailed as the new fic.

Oh and here's a slight spoiler.

Javik is involved as a mentor. Where and when he shows up is the mystery =P

Keep an eye out for "Ashes to Ashes" when it is released. it'll be, Tali, Shepard, Adventure, (Romance or Sci-Fi, mostl likely Sci-Fi since I plan on having some romance but not enough to be considered a major theme.)

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PM or leave a review. If you would like to help me get these chapters whipped into a higher quality PM me with a link to your best fic and I'll consider it (I get enough spam as it is in my email, no offence). Ill make sure your name or alias is put at the top of the chapter as a contributing author.

I'll see about having some photoshopped Tali/Shepard romance pictured whipped up for book covers for those who whant a cover with their printed pages.


	12. Epilogue Part 17 SPOILER ALERT

Everything past this point will be leading up to the events of the first chapter of "Ashes to Ashes". Essentially it's a time lapse only written differently from the last one I wrote (and ended up rewriting to an actual story format.)

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./SPOILER ALERT\.

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./Epilogue Part 1/7\.

./Preceeding the events of "Ashes to Ashes"\.

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Shepard rushed into the E.R. to see Tali, she was rushed in by Shala'Raan fifteen minutes prior to Shepard getting the call. As he ran through the hospital he noticed familiar faces up ahead. Garrus, Ashley, Liara, Shepard's mother and Admiral Hacket all stood in the hallway. He slowed to a jog and then a fast paced walk as he came towards Hacket. Before he had a chance to salute Admiral Hacket put his hand up and motioned for him to stop.

"Shepard, now is not the time to be so formal, I only came in uniform because I got word at such short notice."

"Thank you Admiral, how is she?" he turned to the Quarian doctor standing near the group studying a datapad.

He looked up, "She is well, she refused to let us sedate her for the pain. She also requested us to send you in when you arrived. Congratualations by the way Captain John'Shepard vas Normandy."

The group looked up as they had heard Shepard called by his formal title.

"Thank you doctor, I'll see her now."

He walked past the group nodding at Garrus and following the doctor into the room Tali was in. The doctor put a hand on Shepard's shoulder and nodded at him as he left the room. Shepard shut the door and activated the decontamination sequence so that he could see her without a visor seperating them.

As the decontamination ended, Tali's sterile shield went down and the door locked behind him. He took his mask off and went to her, he stroked the side of her face and she put a hand up to his. They both kissed and spoke softly to eachother in Kellish.

"(How are you?)" he asked, he knew it must be painful being in her position.

"(I am fine my love, as long as you are here with me.)" She smiled as she looked up at him.

"(I am sorry to have put you in this pain.)" he sat down in a chair next to her bed and put an arm around her, she rested on his arm.

"(It is fine, after all, it is your legacy.)"

"(It is our legacy and possibly the first of it's kind.)"


End file.
